He was also originally arrested on suspicion of elder abuse causing great bodily injury, making threats and failing to appear in court on a misdemeanor charge, but prosecutor Tim Stoen of the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office told the jury during his opening remarks that the charges had been "streamlined."

The prosecutor told the jury he planned to call as witnesses each of the three men Lane allegedly held captive, including one man he allegedly beat until he bled profusely from head injuries when he tried to leave the apartment.

Stoen showed the jury a wooden stick with which Lane allegedly beat the man until it broke against his knee. Lane had then switched to a plastic thermos with a metal lining and had also broken it on the victim's body, according to Stoen, then beat the victim's head with a hollow metal cane.

"The defendant said he was (the victim's) leader and that he was training him," Stoen said, adding that the beating had begun when Lane decided "talking to (the victim) wouldn't work" and put him on a bed and started to choke him.

The victim told Lane "his move wasn't working," allegedly prompting Lane to get the wooden stick. Stoen told the jury that the victim, a diagnosed schizophrenic, consented to the beating until the metal cane came into play.

The beating with the cane caused two cuts on the victim's head that bled copiously on his shirt, and caused blood to splatter on the wall, Stoen said, showing an obviously uncomfortable jury pictures of the victim's cuts.

"(The victim) for the first time felt real fear," Stoen said. "He said, Stop, I'm bleeding; I could die from this,' but the defendant didn't stop right away."

The victim, a mental health patient, believed he had paid his dues and began to pack his things and leave. Lane allegedly threw a knife at him, which missed him and hit the apartment's door, Stoen said.

The man went to Safeway where he encountered another tenant of the same apartment building, who helped him get cleaned up and call police, according to Stoen.

Lane's roommate, another alleged victim, had on March 13 visited Hospitality House and met two men who were asked to leave, and offered to let them stay with him and Lane until they could find somewhere else to live, Stoen told the jury.

"The defendant had become very controlling of him," Stoen said of the original roommate.

The two apparently had an arrangement whereby Lane would be the roommate's spiritual teacher. Lane had started telling the roommate he couldn't leave the apartment "with acts of violence, which he took as a warning that violent acts would happen to him if he tried to leave," Stoen said.

Lane had allegedly dealt a blow and bitten another of the men staying at the apartment who didn't listen to him, according to Stoen, and became progressively more violent until the man submitted to his will out of fear for his life.

What Judge Anne Moorman did not allow Stoen to show the jury during his opening remarks was a picture of the carcass of a cat Lane allegedly tortured and killed in front of all three men in the apartment, and buried in a shallow grave a short distance away.

Andrew Higgins of the Mendocino County Public Defender's Office represents Lane.

"Mr. Lane is presumed innocent," he reminded the jury, admonishing its 12 members that their mental starting point on the question should "not be in the middle," but should start "with the idea that he's innocent."

He continued, "This is a very emotional case; do not allow emotions to color your judgment."

Higgins also reminded the jury that, despite Stoen's statements about Lane using a knife and showing the weapon to the jury, "there are no charges about knives."

"I'm not going to ask you to like everything that happened," Higgins said, also asking the jury to disregard any statements Stoen made about "whether (Lane) is a nice' person." He continued, "This is not an easy case to sit on as a jury. Nobody wants to hear about violence against a person, and nobody wants to hear about violence against an animal."

Higgins reminded the jury that Stoen has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt every element of each legal charge against Lane.

The trial is expected to last four to five days.

Tiffany Revelle can be reached at udjtr@ukiahdj.com, on Twitter @TiffanyRevelle or at 468-3523.